(Q, r) Inventory policies in a fuzzy uncertain supply chain environment

Managers have begun to recognize that effectively managing risks in their business operations plays an important role in successfully managing their inventories. Accordingly, we develop a (Q, r) model based on fuzzy-set representations of various sources of uncertainty in the supply chain. Sources of risk and uncertainty in our model include demand, lead time, supplier yield, and penalty cost. The naturally imprecise nature of these risk factors in managing inventories is represented using triangular fuzzy numbers. In addition, we introduce a human risk attitude factor to quantify the decision maker's attitude toward the risk of stocking out during the replenishment period. The total cost of the inventory system is computed using defuzzification methods built from techniques identified in the literature on fuzzy sets. Finally, we provide numerical examples to compare our fuzzy-set computations with those generated by more traditional models that assume full knowledge of the distributions of the stochastic parameters in the system. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.